In vitro assembly of cubic RNA-

In vitro assembly of cubic RNA-based scaffolds designed in silico



The organization of biological materials into versatile three-dimensional
assemblies could be used to build multifunctional therapeutic scaffolds for
use in nanomedicine. Here, we report a strategy to design three-dimensional
nanoscale scaffolds that can be self-assembled from RNA with precise
control over their shape, size and composition. These cubic nanoscaffolds
are only ~13 nm in diameter and are composed of short oligonucleotides,
making them amenable to chemical synthesis, point modifications and
further functionalization. Nanocube assembly is verified by gel assays,
dynamic light scattering and cryogenic electron microscopy. Formation of
functional RNA nanocubes is also demonstrated by incorporation of a
light-up fluorescent RNA aptamer that is optimally active only upon full RNA
assembly. Moreover, we show that the RNA nanoscaffolds can self-assemble in
isothermal conditions (37 °C) during in


Nature Nanotechnology 5, 676 - 682 (2010)
Published online: 29 August 2010 | doi:10.1038/nnano.2010.160